Editing George Peppard (section)

===Decline===
Seeking to ensure his financial security, Peppard bought a cattle ranch. The funding required by this venture prompted Peppard to sign a multi-million-dollar, five-picture contract with Universal in August 1966 – two films for the first year, then one each in the following three.<ref>{{cite news |last=Martin |first=Betty |date=August 5, 1966 |title=A Multi-Picture Deal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-a-multi-picture-de/171313331/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=D12 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Ashley claimed this ultimately hurt Peppard's career.{{sfn|Ashley|1978|p=99}}

The first two films under the contract were ''[[Rough Night in Jericho (film)|Rough Night in Jericho]]'' (1967), a Western with [[Dean Martin]], and ''[[What's So Bad About Feeling Good?]]'' (1968), a comedy directed by [[George Seaton]] with [[Mary Tyler Moore]]; these were followed by a detective film directed by Guillermin, ''[[P.J. (film)|P.J.]]'' (1968), and ''[[House of Cards (1968 film)|House of Cards]]'' (1968), a thriller directed by Guillermin and shot in Europe. None of these films was particularly successful at the box office. Ashley says that doing these films caused Peppard to start drinking.{{sfn|Ashley|1978|p=99–100}} She also claimed Peppard turned down ''[[The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (film)|The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter]]'' because he did not want to play a weak or possibly homosexual character.{{sfn|Ashley|1978|p=101}}

In 1967, he bought the script ''Midnight Fair'' by Sheridan Greenway, to produce.<ref>{{cite news |last=Martin |first=Betty |date=February 2, 1967 |title=Redford Given 'Blue' Role |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-redford-given-blu/171313398/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=C11 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> In 1968, he announced that he had co-written a script, ''Watch Them Die'', which he planned to direct, but not play a starring role in.<ref>{{cite news| title=George Peppard, With Three Movies Ready for Release, Takes It Easy| first=Dorothy| last=Manners| newspaper=The Washington Post and Times-Herald|date=June 4, 1968| page= B8}}</ref> It was never made. Neither was a version of ''[[The Most Dangerous Game]]'' for MGM, announced in 1967.<ref>{{cite news |date=January 25, 1967 |title=MGM Plans 14 Films on 1967 Budget |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-mgm-plans-14-films/171313476/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=D10 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

Peppard starred in the crime drama ''[[Pendulum (1969 film)|Pendulum]]'' (1969), directed by [[George Schaefer (director)|George Schaefer]] with [[Jean Seberg]], and traveled to England to star in ''[[The Executioner (1970 film)|The Executioner]]'' (1970) opposite Joan Collins.  In ''[[Cannon for Cordoba]]'' (1970), Peppard played the steely Captain Rod Douglas, who has been put in charge of gathering a group of soldiers on a dangerous mission into Mexico. His fees for these were $400,000 plus a percentage. He was scheduled to make ''The Plot'' at Fox but this does not seem to have been made.<ref>{{cite news|title=Peppard's big year|newspaper=The Buffalo News|date=24 January 1969|page=8}}</ref>

Peppard instead was in ''[[One More Train to Rob]]'' (1971), another Western, at Universal. Ashley wrote "he became more and more frustrated and disillusioned from hating the kind of pictures he had to do. There were no good scripts, no good directors and at some point it became icily clear that there weren't going to be any."{{sfn|Ashley|1978|pp=122–123}}

In September 1970, he toured Vietnam with a USO show.<ref>{{cite news |date=July 15, 1970 |title=Peppard, Ely on Tour |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-peppard-ely-on-to/171313509/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=D16 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>